Epic Manga: JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #20-21 (JLI 22)

[tcampbell1000]

In the film Apocalpyse Now, war is hell and hella confusing. There’s one clear objective centered on one person, but otherwise, most of the violence is almost random: the protagonists never get enough information to form a meaningful strategy. The second part of this arc, “Apokalips…Wow!!” is pretty much same.

Before that, though, we get an even more unlikely film reference, Ty Templeton tagging in on the finished art, and Manga Khan at his most ambitious and formidable.





The Cluster really should’ve included a time limit in their contract with Lobo. Far as he’s concerned, he hasn’t failed at all; he’s just playing the long game.

It might not surprise you to learn that Barda and her sidekicks survived that explosion, using Apokalips’ underground resistance to get their bearings and to get Rocket Red some new drip.



In exchange for Scott, Manga Khan wants the boom-tube technology that lets Darkseid and his minions teleport to Earth--the same tech that allowed Barda's team to keep up with the Cluster in their tiny ship. Negotiations continue…



…Until Barda’s team is discovered breaking into Granny’s orphanage. Granny and Vundabar respond to Barda’s return with outrage and a little fear, but the silver lining is that they can blame Khan for it, thus ending negotiations without besmirching Darkseid’s honor.



“Granny’s set loose the para-demons!”

In some action stories, “sheer weight of numbers” is just a phrase, and a solitary hero can dispose of a thousand nameless bad guys just by punching them a thousand times. This isn’t one of those stories. The para-demons are too much even for J’Onn, Barda, Red, and G’Nort.

Barda refuses to face this fact, and her passion to save Scott veers close to Ahab-like obsession until J’Onn asserts his own leadership at last.





That “Republican” reference is fascinatingly dated. You starting to wonder if Giffen and DeMatteis were a little fed up with fans complaining their stories weren’t like the classic JLA? I mean, it’s subtle, but…





Hawkman doesn’t seem like he’d have a problem with other people saying “hell,” but maybe he’s just mad his "SEVEN HELLS!" catchphrase never caught on.



Barda is the kind of leader who’s great at barking orders, not so good at empowering people with enough knowledge to make their own tactical decisions. As a result, even the more strategic heroes like Batman and Hawkman are at a loss.



Oberon gets knocked into an Apokaliptian sewer, and his situation goes from disgusting to unnerving:




Manga Khan tries to re-steal the property Granny’s stolen from him and the Cluster, but runs into a totally unforeseeable difficulty:



Lobo catches up to Barda and, again, only acts like a grinning psycho when he’s fighting her, specifically. I’m not saying he’s got a crush, but I’m not NOT saying it.



Away from her, he’s a levelheaded guy who kills for money, not a crazy rampaging bozo who’d kill you as soon as look at you. (Cough.) Barda, for her part, has shifted from “save Scott, nothing else matters” to “I’ve got some friends to rescue.”




The fighting continues until it is silenced by a voice like the scraping stone of an opening grave.

“There goes our time and a half,” mutters a para-demon.





Giffen and DeMatteis are at their most subversive here, building up to a confrontation with arguably DC’s biggest villain, then resolving everything with a pile of anticlimaxes. Manga Khan and Lobo both end up flummoxed as their hoped-for big moments never quite arrive. This arc seems to cry out for a patented Mister Miracle escape scene, but Scott just sleeps through the whole thing.

And the action collapses like a house of cards as soon as Darkseid learns what’s up--not because Darkseid’s a reasonable guy, as Oberon ends up believing, but because Darkseid knows his priorities. His lackeys can’t let go of the past: Granny’s still obsessing over conditioning Scott, even though Scott is now a grown-ass adult. Darkseid’s smarter than that. He’s got a whole UNIVERSE to conquer: Scott will submit to him just by being PART OF THAT UNIVERSE. Between now and then, why borrow trouble?

The one person who does get a more-or-less solid hero arc is Barda, who accompanies the woozy Scott to bed in tenderness and triumph. She's saved him. She did it.



And she did it while learning NOT to get his teammates killed, which will make their pillow talk much less awkward.

Friday?: Something weird.

Comments

[iamrman]

These posts of yours are a highlight of my week.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Same.

[tcampbell1000]

Aw, thanks!

[tcampbell1000]

:-)

[blueprintstyles]

The art in these stories really stand the test of time

[blues32]

I didn't think that PARTICULAR book was...children's book size. I have to wonder about Darkseid's opinion. Did it amuse him? Intrigue him?

[tcampbell1000]

A funny thing about Mein Kampf is that it's not only "terrible" in the sense of unleashing great evils onto the world, it's also "terrible" in the sense that the writing sucks. Darkseid may approve of this as an additional source of misery!

[cainofdreaming]

One could also argue that by taking Scott back Darkseid would be returning to the cease-fire agreement with New Genesis. And that's really not in the agenda.

[tcampbell1000]

Good point!

[mazway_75]

It's a weird take on Darkseid yet oddly fitting for this tale. And I still freaking love Magna and his over the top stuff.

[thanekos]

A little disappointed Darkseid's not wearing a pair of half-frame reading glasses.

[tcampbell1000]

Ha!

[beyondthefringe]

And of course Dmitri’s new suit will be a long-term keeper. It’s such a weird design, too!

It’s interesting that he starts off as an anonymous member of the Rocket Red Corps, who were a faceless mass of numbers, but some time with the League and he rapidly becomes a unique individual with his own distinct look.

I always had a fondness for the clunky first generation Rocket Red suits.

Even Darkseid proves vulnerable to the League’s aura of… irreverence.

[tcampbell1000]

I get what you mean, there's an undeniable charm to the suits and the whole idea of them. I suspect that Giffen and DeMatteis wanted more wiggle room with Dmitri's abilities: if they wanted him to have access to a barrage of smoke missiles, they didn't want to have to worry about conflicting with other Rocket Reds in other stories. Or maybe Kevin or Ty just wanted to draw something they considered cooler-looking.

[zylly]

The new suit's definitely an improvement (and made for a great JLU action figure!).

As I recall, the rest of the Brigade eventually switched to an outwardly similar design, though they could never keep up with the tech inside.

[metadronos]

Ah, so that's where the memetic "'Hot bath?' 'Hot bath'" panel comes from.

[tcampbell1000]

New meme on me! But I can, uh, easily see how it can be taken out of context. (Poor Captain Atom.)

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Wow, this is more interesting than I think I've seen Darkseid be in years.

And Oberon is from Apokalips? Huh, never knew that. Or I forgot. So, how do he and Darkseid know each other?

Manga Khan is great. I hope we see more of him.

Just loved this whole thing.

And call the end anticlimactic if you want, but I love the hell out of Darkseid just being such a force that he says "stop" and everyone does. I think that was more impactful than any brawl, slugfest, or melee they could have put to paper.

[tcampbell1000]

Oberon is from Earth, but he'd associated with Mister Miracle for a long time even at this point. Despite his claim here that he has no use for Scott, Darkseid has paid Scott a "visit" now and then, when he feels the urge to experiment with lower-key forms of despair. (Darkseid just chilling out in an easy chair is actually a long-running motif; I probably should've mentioned that.)

Him calling himself "one of Oberon's oldest and dearest friends" doesn't seem even a little bit accurate, but he knows Oberon won't contradict him on this.

[super_fly]

I think I only just realised the pun in Mr Miracles civilian name

Big Barda is the only person who can get off scott free.

is that a thing

[wizardru]

I had forgotten that Ty Templeton was drawing the league at this point, fresh from his personal comic, Stig's Inferno. He's perfect for this run and the art does a good job of maintaining Kevin's style, but feeling different.

And that picture of Darkseid is iconic.